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The passport being sold, stated to be a “male Irish” with an expiry date of November 2020

The passport being sold, stated to be a “male Irish” with an expiry date of November 2020 was advertised in South Belfast as he tried to sell it.

Under Craigslist rules, prohibited items include: “ID cards [and] government documents”, therefore making the sale of passports on the website illegal.

Express.co.uk has contacted Craigslist for comment.

A BBC Inside Out investigation earlier this year found another man attempting to sell a stolen passport for £550 in Kent yet when they were confronted by the undercover investigator Jonathan Gibson, they fled the scene.

Top 10 facts about passports

Wed, May 10, 2017

10 fascinating facts about passports.

A stolen passport being sold in Ireland for £1000 was spotted on Craigslist

It is stated under Reproduction of the British Passport, which can be found on nationalarchices.gov.uk: “Passports remain the property of HM government and they may not be sold by the person named in the passport or any other person.

“If HM Passport Office becomes aware of any attempt to sell a passport, either expired or in date, it will be assumed that the passport is no longer required and HM Passport Office will request that it be returned.”

Those who are buying them could face a jail sentence, with the law stating: "It is an offence for a person to have in his custody or under his control an instrument to which this section applies which is, and which he knows or believes to be, false, with the intention that he or another shall use it to induce somebody to accept it as genuine, and by reason of so accepting it to do or not to do some act to his own or any other person’s prejudice."

Britons who have their passport stolen should report it straight away to prevent it being used illegally.

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Stolen passports can be illegally sold online

Spain is the country where Britons are most likely to have their passport stolen.

According to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), 5,000 out of 20,000 stolen passports last year were reported from Spain.

In 2015, the Foreign Office created a campaign called Passport Aware after an increase in lost passports overseas.

It could end up costing the holder thousands of pounds if they’re used fraudulently.